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Dallas crowd anticipated largest since SBC 2010

DALLAS (BP) -- Dallas attendance is in line to be the highest at a Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting since 2010, according to an event coordinator.

Advance hotel reservations which ended today (May 14) are about 25 percent ahead of reservations this time last year, said William Townes, SBC Executive Committee vice president for convention finance.

"With less than a month remaining until our upcoming SBC annual meeting, we are looking forward to a prayerful, deliberative, constructive and gracious gathering of our Southern Baptist family in Dallas this summer," Townes said.

Between 8,000 and 9,000 messengers could attend the meeting June 12-13 at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, he projected, based on current hotel reservations and advance messenger registrations.

Messenger attendance at an SBC annual meeting has not been that high since the 2010 annual meeting in Orlando, when the official count was 11,075.

Topped with 5,000 to 6,000 invited guests, exhibitors and other attendees, total Dallas attendance could surpass 14,000.

At the 2017 annual meeting in Phoenix, 5,015 messengers were joined by 4,300 guests and exhibitors and others to total 9,315 in attendance, Townes said. When the SBC last convened in Dallas in 1997, messenger registration was 12,420.

Since 2012, messenger registration has fluctuated between 5,103 and 7,874.

Attendees still needing housing should make reservations directly with Dallas area hotels. The Omni Dallas Hotel is the official convention hotel, located next to the Dallas convention center at 650 S Griffin St.

Churches or bus operators bringing groups to the convention center should contact EC meeting planner Lynn Richmond, at lrichmond@sbc.net, for information on available bus parking, and passenger drop off and pick up locations.

Additional annual meeting information is available at sbcannualmeeting.net, and will be accessible on the "SBC Annual Meetings" mobile app, downloadable through the App Store, Google Play or app.core-apps.com/sbc_am2018.

Diana Chandler is Baptist Press' general assignment writer/editor. BP reports on missions, ministry and witness advanced through the Cooperative Program and on news related to Southern Baptists' concerns nationally and globally.

Formed in 1946 by the Southern Baptist Convention, and supported with Cooperative Program funds, Baptist Press (BP) is a daily (M-F) international news wire service. Operating from a central bureau in Nashville, Tenn., BP works with four partnering bureaus (Richmond, Va.; Atlanta, Ga.; Nashville, Tenn.; and Washington, D.C.), as well as with a large network of contributing writers, photographers and editorial providers, to produce BP News.